Samsung factory strikes again

Due to the persistent inability to reach a labor management agreement, Samsung's labor union has announced another strike next week, following a one day strike in June. The strike may last for three days.

According to South Korean media reports, on July 1st, the largest NSEU among the Samsung Electronics Union in South Korea announced that a major strike will be held from July 8-10 until the demands are met, including better job benefits such as salary increases and leave.

At the same time, NSEU also warned that the expected three-day strike will have a much greater impact on the company's business than the one day strike in early June. NSEU stated that it will disclose more specific details of the strike in the future. Samsung Electronics did not express any views on this major strike.

The President of NSEU announced in a live broadcast on the social media platform YouTube that in addition to officially going on strike, he also stated that he will continue to fight until demands for improved compensation and vacation benefits are met.

The dispute between the two sides mainly consists of two points: the Samsung Electronics Union in South Korea believes that the 5.1% increase is too low and demands that the salary increase be increased to 6.5%; The labor union has requested Samsung Electronics to adjust the measurement standard for performance bonuses, from calculating based on economic added value (after tax net operating profit minus capital investment) to calculating based on operating profit, which is the same as SK Hynix and LG Electronics.

According to statistics, the Samsung Electronics Union in South Korea has approximately 28000 labor members, accounting for at least 20% of Samsung's total employees,

As early as June 7th, NSEU members used their annual leave to protest in front of Samsung Electronics headquarters in Seoul, but only for one day. Samsung responded at the time that it had no impact on the production line and operations.

Analysts believe that Samsung Electronics, as the world's largest memory chip and a major smartphone manufacturer, seems to be facing different challenges in company management and products, such as the upcoming employee strike and when it can catch up with its competitor SK Hynix in high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips.

Kim Yang Paeng, Senior Researcher at the Korea Institute of Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET), said that any impact will ultimately depend on how many workers operating chip factories participate in the strike, as well as the duration of the strike.